Nicholas Bate

Some Time In NYC 1

Everybody said: wow it's hot in NY at the moment.

The taxi driver said: it's been hotter than ever for weeks. I can't afford the gas to keep my air-con going..

The nice girl at the reception desk said: drink plenty of water.

Yep, it's hot in NY, NY at the moment.

The Rockies Rock

But I suspect you knew that anyway. I had to discover it for myself. I drove from Vancouver to Whistler and from Whistler to Jasper. 

The Wilderness is breathtaking. If you haven't been, get it on your 'one day' travel list.

If You Are In Vancouver...

be sure to check out Granville Island: an absolute delight for foodies.

Find your favourite city...

...here, somewhere. Oh and Tim Baynes are you in here somewhere? You should be.

...snippets of a country...2...

...from our breakfast table we look out at a carefully guarded Museo de la Revolucion whilst grappling with a wide-ranging but somehow not-at-all-integrated Cuban breakfast. There is still no cigar smoke in the air and it surprises us; in fact there is very little smoking going on at all. Has it all been a hoax? A complex  conspiracy? Anyhow, it's 0900 and what's it to be? The Revolutionary Museum or is it time to head across Havana to find the Rum Museum. The latter. Cuba has a few basic products: sugar, tobacco and nickel. It makes the most of all three. Thus you are strongly (and I mean strongly) encouraged to take sugar with your coffee: it's the ways Cubans do it. And rum of course is a clever production of sugar. At the museum we are the only ones in the English-speaking tour and the nice Cuban lady explains things very carefully including  the 3 ,5 and 7 year maturing process. At the end of the tour we are encouraged to try a free sample of the best rum. Wow. No wonder Mojito has funny j in it.

Dodging the rain which is now falling heavily we continue to be amazed by the beautiful streets and squares and we take in lunch with a Cuban who appears to have been to London; he wants to go again but apparently - he smiles knowingly -it's not encouraged. It's still raining heavily, so let's stay close: The Museum. 

It's heavy: pity any little children taken on a school trip here to get to grips with their country's history. (By the way: they are unlikely to be equipped with the ubiquitous pads and pens so beloved of school trips, at least in the UK. Both paper and pens are very scarce and special in Cuba). Sure there's Che's tank, a US spy plane which was shot down and a mini Versailles Hall of Mirrors. But there's also an awful lot of clothing with blood on it. A lot of black and white photographs of bearded people with cigars hiding in odd places. And whichever way you look at it, an awful lot of bravery, passion and sheer belief in a cause. I think you need to be of a certain age to take it all in. Or perhaps it's simply best done after The Rum Factory...we certainly needed a long sit down. The colonnade outside the Hotel Inglaterra will do nicely..

...snippets of a country...

...we landed with more cash in our back-pockets than either of us would have preferred, from Heathrow via Madrid to a land of thresholds. To a land where we soon learnt that just enough is well, just enough. Just enough food in the shops. Just enough of a towel in your room. Just enough humidity for the perfect cigar. And just enough black beans and rice. It took us a bit of time to find our lift at an airport surprisingly reminiscent of Bombay before we stepped out into the warm night air, where there seemed to be a severe lack of lighting. Well, just enough perhaps. I guess it seemed just as you imagine a  communist country might appear or if you were starring in a 1950s Cold War spy novel. Our taxi headed off: we were heading into Havana, Cuba.

There were few cars on the road until we got into the city itself where we increasingly saw the fabled 1950s – beautiful -American cars prowling the streets: that roar. They just don't make engines like that anymore! Our hotel was typical of Cuban gorgeous faded elegance with colonades and extensive sitting areas; we stayed on the 6th floor, where Al Capone preferred to reside and party. Luckily they ‘d cleared up after he left.

Jeez, it was sometime like 0500 UK time. Collecting a ‘sin gas’ 2l bottle of water from the 24h bar which was settling down to some hard, hard rum drinking we headed for bed. Time for sleep…

Back tomorrow:

• More tales from the land that time forgot: Cuba
• What have the lads from Liverpool been up to? and
• 25 Reasons Why 2009 is going to be your Best Year Yet

And so to Mumbai

As I have travelled across Asia, it’s been a great privilege to work with some phenomenal teams from Indonesia, Hong Kong (let go of that phone, William!), Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia (hope the Magic Bus trip home was good, guys), Singapore and Japan. Yesterday I arrived on the last leg: Mumbai.
The thing about much of India, is that it’s so easy to think: there’s got to be a better way of doing this. For example, there’s only one X-ray machine coping with a flight-load of customers and that has insufficient power –it appears- to pull any bag more than 25 kilos up its incline. And anyway the observer is spending more time talking rather than looking at the screen for anything suspicious. And pre-ordering the taxi -like a seasoned traveler to avoid being over-charged and taken via half a dozen relative’s shops - the choice is air-conditioning or not. Seat belts don’t come into it.
And of course you know the traffic is like something out of a Mad Max sequel. But for real. Oh, and the first bank I saw was the Ace Co-op, which given recent news seems faintly reassuring.
The beguiling thing - and it is best not to fight it too much - is that it’s still very much a hi-touch nation. And that’s no bad thing. Some of us are wondering what’s happened to our very own high-tech nations, recently.
As always, it’s never either/or, but a bit of both. Respected and adapted.
Have a cool Sunday. I think I need some dahl and a cup of tea.

Travel and Packing

Thanks to Steve Clayton for this very useful site for anyone who feels they haven't fully mastered the art of packing or could get a whole lot better at it.

I know I'm back in LA...

...because of:
1. Immigration. Business or pleasure? What exactly do you do? Can I see your return ticket, please? Etc.
2. The temperature. It's warm. And not raining.
3. Es necessario hablar en espanol. Claro.
4. Down-town LA is just like The Shield. Seriously.
5. Pedestrian crossings count-down to red. Some even tell you which street you are on. Cool.
6. Starbucks customers use the full span of options: ..half-milk, no foam, 4 pumps, short....
7. The gym-on-the-beach at Santa Monica. Can you climb the rope? Well, can you?
8. And if you are near the pier, get a fresh lemonade at Hot Dog on a Stick. I don't know about the hot dogs but the lemonades are fantastic.
9. Taxi drivers ALWAYS take the freeway.
10. LAX.

Toronto 7

1. Weather is very mild. In the UK we'd call it 'muggy'. What a word!
2. Still love the Distillery District.
3. The black squirrels are around.
4. Poor visibility from the CN Tower.
5. Not really sure about Spiced Pumpkin Latte.
6. On the plane read David Maister's Strategy and the Fat Smoker. This is an excellent book on turning organisational aspiration into reality.
7. Also read The Garden of Last Days. Brilliantly written but do not start it if you are already in a dark place...